Colborne confident a deal will get done with Flames before Aug. 1 arbitration hearing

Jefferson Hagen, Calgary Herald07.16.2014

Calgary Flames centre Joe Colborne watches his golf shot during the ‘Shootout at the Meadow’ celebrity closest to the pin challenge at the Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club on Wednesday. The event supported a variety of Calgary charities in advance of the Champions Tour Shaw Charity Classic event coming to the course next month.

Joe Colborne heard it from his pals when he filed for arbitration earlier this month.

“It’s funny because when it officially came out that I had filed for it,” the Calgary Flames centre explained after participating in the Shaw Charity Classic ‘Shootout at the Meadows’ on Wednesday at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club, “some of my friends and people were texting me, ‘well, I thought you liked being in Calgary.’ (I told them), ‘well, yeah, I love being in Calgary.’

“It’s part of the business and it’s just protecting myself financially and that way,” added the restricted free agent who made $600,000 on a one-year deal last season.

Colborne’s arbitration hearing is set for Aug. 1 in Toronto, but he doesn’t anticipate the case will make it to a boardroom.

“We’re in a situation where I really want to be here. I love being here,” said the 24-year-old, who produced 10 goals and 28 points in 80 games for the Flames in 2013-14, his first with the Flames after coming over in a trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs. “It’s my hometown, why wouldn’t I? And they want me to be here, so it’s not like some of the past arbitration cases where there’s some hostility involved.

“It’s two sides of the deal that want to get a deal done. And usually when that happens, it gets done.

“So I’m looking forward to when we can move on from it and start looking forward to the season. I’m really excited about the direction we’re moving and some new additions we have. It’s going to be an exciting year.”

Flames general manager Brad Treliving told the Herald earlier this month that arbitration is a “part of the process” in the negotiations between him and Colborne’s agent J.P. Barry.

“It’s been a busy few weeks for everyone,” Treliving said on July 5. “The fact that we haven’t got anything done before him filing is no indication of us not wanting to get a deal done — and vice versa from his side as well.

“We’ll continue to talk and hopefully get something done sooner rather than later.”

If the case makes it to the arbitration hearing, Colborne and his representatives at CAA Sports would square off against the Flames in a boardroom, which isn’t always a pleasant process for the player, but the centre really believes he doesn’t expect it to get that far.

“Each side kind of goes at it. That’s what I understand anyway,” Colborne said. “I haven’t really given it too much thought. I still think we’re going to figure something out here before that and not even have to worry about it. Like I said, we have two sides that want to get something done, so I think it will get done.”

Colborne was busy in the weight-room during the recent Flames’ summer development camp, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t keeping tabs on some of the newcomers.

“I was busy working out myself and doing some other things, but we actually took a couple of the guys and met up with them after their camp was done for the day — a few of the guys we played with there at the end of the year with Johnny Gaudreau and Kenny Agostino and Billy Arnold. We just showed them around Calgary a little bit, but from what I’ve heard and from talking with some of our coaches at our ice times, it was a great camp and there’s a lot to be excited about coming up the pipe.”

And a lot to be excited for moving into Year 2 of the Flames’ rebuild.

“We were a team that prided ourselves on being tough to play against and not being a team that other teams would want to come to the Saddledome and play against,” said Colborne of last season. “If anything, we’ve even surpassed that, so we’re going to be a tough team and teams are going to know if they want to come in and take two points from us, they’re going to have to bring their work boots.

“We worked really hard at developing an identity and I think just bringing in these guys . . . guys who want to be here, hometown guys like Mason (Raymond), and tough guys like (Brandon) Bollig, (Deryk) Engelland . . . people aren’t going to want to go into the corner against us. It’s going to be a fun team to watch.”

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Colborne confident a deal will get done with Flames before Aug. 1 arbitration hearing

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